Gerry Adams quits Stormont to stand in south

Gerry Adams is leaving Northern Ireland politics to run for parliament south of the border, he announced yesterday.

Grand plan: Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams (PA)

The long-term Sinn Fein leader said he was making the controversial move to highlight the Irish government’s ‘deeply damaging’ economic policy.

‘I want to be part of the necessary fight-back against bad economic policies in both parts of this island and for a fair, decent and united society for all the people of Ireland,’ he said.

‘This is a significant initiative by the Sinn Fein leadership.

‘It is a measure of our determination to provide a real alternative to the consensus for cuts being pushed by the other parties.’

The 62-year-old wants to contest the constituency of Louth, north of Dublin, in the next Dail parliamentary election after Arthur Morgan, Sinn Fein’s MP in the county, decided not to run again.

Sinn Fein wants N Ireland to end its union with Britain and unite with the Republic of Ireland. The party has four seats in the Dail in Dublin and wants to expand its standing on both sides of the border.

Bookmakers Paddy Power have Mr Adams as the 1/5 favourite to win the seat in the Irish parliament.

The next parliamentary election is not scheduled until 2012 but analysts expect a poll will be held early next year.

If Mr Adams wins, he would relinquish his seat at Westminster, where he is banned from attending sessions as he refused to take the oath to the Queen.

Commentators see Mr Adams’ move as a gamble – he could be left in the political wilderness if he does not win the Louth seat after stepping down from the Stormont National Assembly.

If elected, he would travel home to his family in west Belfast when possible, he told supporters.

Meanwhile, Dublin yesterday denied it was in talks with the EU to receive an emergency financial bailout. The government is pushing through savage austerity cuts to lower its deficit.